Took a few days off from the movies, but 1957 was another jam-packed year for film. 1957 films had a quality of conflict. Even in the musicals and comedies the songs and laughs, came from battles between countries, lovers, and war against business plus all the internal conflicts of trying to do the right thing for the wrong reasons.
The imports from Broadway were Pal Joey, The Pajama Game, and Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire did the honors for Silk Stockings. Debby Reynolds sang Tammy. Elvis brought two full musicals with Loving You and Jailhouse Rock. Hepburn and Tracy delivered Desk Set with another war of words and a wall sized computer that would fit on your cell phone today. Sayonara brought a combo of drama and comedy with Marlon Brando and two great supporting Oscar performances from Miyoshi Umeki and Red Buttons.
There were several great westerns, war dramas and performances with 12 Angry Men, A Face In The Crowd, Sweet Smell of Success, 3:10 to Yuma, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, The Spirit of St. Louis, The Joker is Wild, Man of a Thousand Faces, and Wild is the Wind. Joanne Woodward took home Best Actress Oscar for Three Faces of Eve, Alec Guiness was named Best Actor and The Bridge on the River Kwai received best picture accolades.
The great songs were themes from dramas rather than musicals.
